Regulators from across the world who form a "Monitoring Group" that oversees International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) published on Monday feedback from a consultation on creating a new audit rule making body.

The recent UK parliamentary panels’ report on the collapse of government contractor, Carillion has repercussions beyond British shores. It highlights the crisis of confidence in the audit profession and calls for a massive rehaul of the pillars of corporate governance.

There is much that is expected of CFOs. However, Helen Brand, CEO of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is astonished that the finance function escapes censure when misreporting happens. She believes the CFOs cannot hide behind the CEO in this day and age.

The government's decision is seen as a significant step towards boosting the prospects of local auditing firms amid the backdrop of Big 4 audit firms holding sway, especially when it comes to companies where there is overseas investment.

Overall as many as 854 audit firms audited the 1,589 NSE-listed companies in 2016-17. Hence, on an average, an audit firm audited 1.86 companies. The Big 4 (Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, EY) dominate the audit services market with 26% share by volume and 27% share by fee. Their dominance (51%) was even stronger in the Nifty-500 subset.